Flame of the West: the Philosopher's Stone
by wen.but for love
Summary: HPFoR Crossover. No strict pairings, but they're still young. Pretty short one, will follow general cannon guidelines. Wasn't supposed to be a superpowered Harry but it happened anyway, or will happen anyway. [Disclaimer in profile]
1. Things Can Happen

Flame of the West: The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 1: Things Can Happen

21st October 2005

A boy, eleven years old, walked steadily along a worn path. Grass swayed and rustled gently in the breeze, but the boy didn't notice. He had long, raven hair glowing down his back in a thick ponytail, and a deep fringe that hid his eyes. He stopped suddenly, lifted his head and stared at the sky through the branches as if he could feel something change.

His eyes suddenly opened and his fringe drew back instantaneously. He pivoted on his right foot, his entire body turning with his right arm as something flashed out. A loud CLANG broke the silence, and the boy's emerald green eyes met cold blue, a long curved sword held poised in his right hand, a matching katana in his opponent's. The boy broke first, and a grin split his features, "Good to see you're keeping sharp, dad." The older man sheathed his blade and snorted, "Improving. Get home, dinner's ready."

The boy was Harry Potter, hero of the magical world, currently missing for almost 9 years. The man trailing behind him humming an off-key tune was Tokiya Mikagami, blade master and wielder of the ice sword Ensui. He stared off into the clouds, eventually catching up as his adopted son ravaged the dinner he'd made for them both. He quickly joined in, noting the boy observed table manners even as he ate at a speed that shouldn't have been allowed.

A knock came at the door after dinner, while Harry was doing his Katas. Tokiya had in fact been training the child, and Harry was learning quickly. An old man stood in the doorway, a twinkle in his eye, "Mr. Mikagami, I presume? I am Albus Dumbledore." Tokiya sized him up, deciding he really didn't pose too much of a threat, "Indeed. Your purpose would be?"

"Ah, now I'm afraid that would take a while to explain. Could we sit down to some tea perhaps?" Tokiya acceded to the request and invited him in, "Living room's there have a seat." He was about to go for the teapot, when the old man pulled out a stick and waved it, and a piping hot pot of tea appeared on the tea table. He inclined his head slightly, "A wizard? My my, things certainly do get around. Harry, perhaps you should come down." Albus Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up, "you know of magic?"

Tokiya chuckled, "Indeed. Indeed. Still, that I do is all that matters. I'll assume though, that you're here regarding Harry." Speak of the devil, the young man himself entered. Seeing the old man there he snorted, "I thought someone new was here. Who's he? Another of your weird friends?" Tokiya snorted in return, "Only Domon and Recca are weird. This one here is plain raving though. He's a wizard, and being Albus Dumbledore, I think it's safe to say he's here to give you an invitation." The blade master turned back to the old man, "Isn't that right?"

Albus hid his surprise and shock well, "Yes. I am headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and as your parents have already registered you, it is my pleasure to deliver this notice. Lily and James would have been proud." Harry chuckled, "Well, this certainly came earlier than expected. Shall we go to Diagon Alley then? Gringotts requires us visit them." Albus didn't hide his surprise quite as well this time, and Tokiya laughed quietly. Little did the oldie know, he had Kagehoushi on his side.

………

"Yes, I am Albus Dumbledore here to bring Harry Potter to his vault." The goblin gave him a piercing gaze and sneered, "Griphook, sir, I believe we have a problem here. Mr Dumbledore has Mr. Potter's key." He gave his superior a significant look and the larger goblin nodded, "Mr Dumbledore, Mr Potter, and Mr Mikagami. Please follow me to the president's office." It wasn't a question.

…

"Come in, come in." Griphook hadn't even knocked on Ragnok's door. Said goblin froze in shock, but recovered quickly, "The president will see you now." He turned and left, shaking his head. Harry shrugged and pushed open the door, entering a large, but Spartan office. The fireplace was stone, and plain, with several weapons of different designs hanging in various positions on the wall.

Their attention, though, was drawn to the imposing desk of oak, and the large goblin sitting behind it. From what he'd seen, the teller goblins were probably around half his height, or so Harry assumed, with their supervisors somewhat larger. The president, however, was probably about his own height, and possibly heavier too. The goblin smiled toothily, "Please sit, we have business I believe."

He waved them to straight backed wooden chairs, and pulled several sheaves of parchment, "Mr. Mikagami, as recognized guardian of Harry James Potter, you have a hold on the Potter estates and family vault. You will not, however, be allowed to move monies larger than a thousand galleons at a time. If you agree, sign here." He pushed a piece of parchment at the swords master, and withdrew another, "Mr. Potter, as set out by your parents, you have a trust vault and their personal vault to use, though the monies available for now are restricted to your trust vault. To activate this, please sign over there."

The goblin turned to Dumbledore, "Now that the proper procedures are underway, Mr. Dumbledore, you are expected to surrender all the keys." Dumbledore was just reaching into his robes when Harry spoke up, "You mean they're physical keys?" both magicals nodded at him, "Can we change this? Physical keys can get lost right?" Ragnok nodded, "Of course, Mr. Potter. Arrangements can be made, Mr. Dumbledore, you may keep the keys if you so wish."

…

A short while later, the paperwork sorted through, Harry and Tokiya were led to a cart while Dumbledore left to attend to other business. The goblin leading them, this time named Coin, stopped at his trust vault, opening it to reveal piles of coins. He chuckled, "I guess it's a coin only place huh? No bills or such." Coin looked confused at this but shook it off, "You wished to changed the entrance requirements, Mr. Potter?" Harry nodded, "Yes, is it possible to use a recognition type lock? The muggles have this technology that recognizes one's fingerprint."

Coin waved his hands around and a large tome appeared in his hands, "Blood recognition then, Mr. Potter?" He frowned, "I guess so, same with all the other vaults please." Coin nodded, "Mr. Mikagami will have to be keyed as well because of his position as executor of your estates." Harry shrugged, "No problem."

In his parent's vault, Harry found not only large amounts of money, but trunks and bookcases, "Can they be shipped? I'd like to look through them and there are too many to move on my own." Coin nodded, "Yes we can send them to you via carrier, or we can shrink them for you now." Harry opted for the shrinking, and they moved onto the other vaults.

The family vault was the largest by far, and most interestingly was numbered 37. Coin told his about how Gringotts had been built starting with the first hundred vaults, and how the oldest ones went to the oldest families. They turned the corner, and a jet of fire narrowly missed them. It was a serpentine dragon, much like an elemental Dragon Harry was intimately familiar with. Purely on instinct, he glared into the dragon's eye and whispered, "Down." All were shocked when the dragon meekly complied.

It was definitely a family vault though, and Harry decided to pick out a few portraits and pieces of furniture. Mikagami gazed around, "Not exactly neat though. Do goblins tidy the vaults?" Coin shook his head, "We're not allowed in. You'll have to do it yourself or bring a house elf in." Harry shrugged, "Another time then."

………

The were met most silently by a tall, pale woman with a curious globe in her hand and dressed in black flowing robes. Her short hair blew around in the gentle breeze and her deep blue eyes sparkled, "First place would be Ollivander's I believe, they say he's the best wand maker around."

Harry shook his head, "I really wish you wouldn't do that, Kage." She merely smiled sadly, "Mastery is a long wait Harry."

…

Ollivander's was a very small shop, the only furniture being a large desk, a plush armchair behind it, and a spindly waiting chair. Harry sensed, with his basic ki abilities, someone quietly moving through the store. He gazed around at the walls covered in boxes thin and long, probably containing wands of some sort.

"Good afternoon." A soft voice attracted their attention, and the man, presumably Ollivander, gazed at them all, stopping at Harry, "Ah yes, Mr. Potter. I thought I'd see you soon. I assume you're here for a wand then? Now, which is your wand arm?" Harry blinked, "I'm right handed." Ollivander began shuffling through boxes and boxes while the measuring tape took his arm length, nose length, hair length, and other such queer measurements that Harry was sure weren't needed.

It soon stopped when Ollivander came back with several long boxes, "Try this one, Oak and Dragon heartstring, 12 inches." Harry picked it up, but had it snatched away immediately, "No, not right. Try this one, Willow and phoenix feather, 10 inches." Harry picked it up, but again had it snatched away just as the armchair behind the desk exploded.

This went on for a long time, before Ollivander finally gave him a glittering smile, "I've yet to have a student I couldn't fit. Come over Mr. Potter, you have exhausted all my ready made wands, so we'll have to make you another." He led them to the back room, where materials covered the walls and floor. The old man waved his hand, clearing a space, "Please excuse the mess, one has to have his fun once in a while after all." He waved several chairs into existence and led Harry to a wood pile, "Now Mr. Potter, we have to find you materials for your wand, tell me if anything pulls at you."

Harry didn't know quite what he picked up, but he could tell they were very unusual materials. Ollivander looked them over, "Most queer Mr. Potter, I'd have thought you'd pick out a wood, but it appears you aren't going to have a wood wand. Not that it really matters to me though." He started examining the pieces, "Horn of a unicorn foal, one of very few, I'm sure, to use it. Your personality shows learning in this Mr. Potter, remember to stay open to all information. Dragon's blood, not terribly uncommon, but still unusual, you have a fierce spirit I daresay.

"Basilisk fang, one of the largest set if I remember rightly. Withhold your vengeance till you are sure, action without reason is often regretted. I see much promise in you, Mr. Potter, great things heralded your entry, great deeds will be your life. Your wand will be ready in a week, please come again then." Tokiya and Harry left, but Kagehoushi smiled at him, "It has been a long time, has it not?" Ollivander chuckled, "what's another century?"

…

Flourish and Blotts was definitely one of Harry's favorite places in the Alley, and he whizzed through the sections, grabbing a copy of almost every book there. He left the divination books though, and spent much of his time on a section called Occlumency. It sounded to him a lot like his ki techniques.

Ancient runes were also interesting, and Harry found himself thinking of the various runes he'd seen Kagehoushi once using on their home. None of the ones in the books were quite so complicated though.

Madam Malkin's was a lesson in boredom. Harry just stood there while the seamstress stitched back and forth, while Tokiya looked at cloaks. Harry privately thought the ones they already had were far nicer, but didn't stop his sensei.

He was brought from his reverie when the boy next to him (he hadn't even noticed) practically yelled at him, "Are you even paying attention to me?" Harry glared at him, "You are beneath me, little boy, if I don't feel obliged to listen immediately. Don't even start." The blond's attitude was grating on his nerves, and more irritating that the little upstart assumed he the world owed him a living.

Said boy jumped off the platform as soon as he'd finished, "You don't even know who I am! I challenge you then, I'll make you respect the Malfoy family!" Harry raised an eyebrow, assessing his opponent's prowess. There was a mystical aura about him, showing he was in fact skilled in some way. His physical abilities, though, were definitely lacking.

Harry noticed Tokiya picking out a few cloaks for him, "Accepted then, in the street as soon as I'm done here?" the young Malfoy smirked, "get your coffin ready."

…

The fight was short but thankfully not bloody. Harry took a loose stance, "I haven't much time, so lets say first blood eh?" Draco laughed maliciously, "The coward's way then? Very well. _Petrificus Totalus_!" Harry rolled his eyes and avoided the beam of light at the last second, "Too slow child, try again." Infuriated, Draco aimed again with his new wand, "_Flipendo_!" Harry jumped over the spell, landing behind his opponent.

The boy whirled round to fire another spell, but Harry plucked the wand from his grip, "I win." Before the gathered crowd's horrified eyes, Draco Malfoy's upper body robes fell to shreds, a thin trickle of blood flowing from an accurate incision in the middle of his chest. The blond took one look at the blood and fainted. He gazed at the wand, "I'll hold onto this till I believe you have the maturity."

A large blond man stepped in front of him as Harry and Tokiya started to walk away, "Give it here, or else." Harry was about to speak but Tokiya stepped in front of him, "Then your opponent is me. The boy hasn't the maturity to use a weapon properly, he shouldn't be allowed one." The man drew a dark wand from his robes and Tokiya pulled his Ensui. Mists started condensing around his handle, and soon a blade of ice took shape.

The wizard raised an eyebrow, "Impressive, but now I shall show you the true worth of a wizard. First blood keeps the wand. _Reducto! Clava Lacero! Conseco! Incendio! Alare Exumae!" _It was an impressive display of offensive magic, but Tokiya remained calm, deflecting each curse on his sword blade. A second's pause was all it took, and in a flash the large wizard had a horizontal slash on his forehead. Tokiya sighed and walked towards their last stop, the apothecary, "it's a shame when peope have such a narrow viewpoint."

…

Kagehoushi met them in a darker corner of the Alley, shadow teleporting them back home, "I found another book store, I believe you'll find these interesting at least." Harry grinned at her, she had been the closest thing to a mother he'd known apart from the vague dreams of being held in another woman's arms, flashing green lights, and high pitched laughing.

Tokiya always managed to bring him back to earth though, "Go do your Katas now. We can look through your new things after dinner.

………

Albus Dumbledore sat behind his desk, pondering the status of his plans. It was obvious Harry wasn't possibly his pawn anymore, and that he'd probably bolt at the first sign of manipulation. Still, that was all secondary to the main problem now, which was Voldemort.

The dark lord's spirit form was apparently hiding out in the forests somewhere, weak and feeble, but still dangerous. By all rights, the crazed wizard should have been destroyed by the failed killing curse, but something or some things had anchored his soul while the physical embodiment was destroyed. He sighed, even now he blamed himself for how young Tom Riddle turned out, and how he'd basically done the same thing with Harry.

He thought further, Harry had the potential to be either dark or light, and with his potential it really couldn't be risked. So how to keep him anchored to the light? The answer came to him quickly, and he raised his hands, twirling them about elaborately, causing a few books to fly off his shelves and pack themselves neatly. He smiled to himself and wrote out a quick note, "Fawks, my old friend, would you take these to Harry for me?" A trill and a flash of fire later, both phoenix and load disappeared.

………

Harry picked out what he deemed were the most interesting books, the volumes on mind magic. Before he'd learnt meditation, physical activity was probably his favorite pastime. Now, though, he loved looking around his mind, and his aura, watching flowing patterns and varying forms.

His meditation had allowed him to discover other secrets about himself, such the spiritual entity living in him and giving him strength. They made their peace, and now channeled each other, Harry often calling forth his bright blue fire phoenix just for a chat. The phoenix had its own benefit, which was an incredible memory and recall, not to mention memories from several hundred years ago.

Harry now used the speed reading benefits almost instinctively, going through the books on Occlumency he'd bought and the books on Legimency that Kagehoushi had gotten him. He had just finished the shield foundations when an entering presence brought him out of his trance. His katana was unsheathed the instant a swan sized bird with red and gold plumage appeared in front of him carrying several large books. A note was attached, and Harry called Tokiya in for his input.

…

The swords master was curious to say the least, "He sounds like he's afraid of something. Or afraid _for_ something, or someone. Still, I can't feel anything negative from the books, so why don't you give them a read?"

Harry studied Fawks silently for a while, "A phoenix huh?"

………

It was another week before Harry completed his basic full Occlumency shields, and another week before the advanced shields were up with layering foundations. Yet another week went by before he finished layering his shields, which left only a daily routine of strengthening and maintaining his shields.

The books sent to him by Dumbledore taught very advanced spell work, so Harry left them for after he'd finished with his Occlumency shields. In the meantime, he read his school books. Potion brewing was a mess for him, without the basics, but fortunately he had an obscure potions reference book that made things much clearer. Charms was probably his favorite subject within the school curriculum, bested only by the advanced enchantments book.

…

He and Tokiya had agreed to meet Dumbledore in the leaky cauldron the week he finished his full Occlumency shields. The entered a private room, and ate a quick but filling lunch. Dumbledore got straight to business, "There are several things I've asked you here for. First is Voldemort, whom Harry supposedly killed when he was an infant. The problem is that he isn't really dead, rather he's caught in the unenviable position of existing without a physical form because something has anchored his soul to this plane.

"The second is a prophecy concerning both Harry and Voldemort made before Harry's birth, which effectively drove Voldemort to attempt to kill the Potters. Or at least, that's all I know of that would drive him such…"

………

"Harry, I really don't think you should take that trunk to Hogwarts with you."

"Why not? I mean, I have to bring so many things with me."

"I did not say you should not take _any_ trunk with you, I said you should not take _that_ trunk with you."

"Which one should I take then?"

Tokiya pushed another trunk into the room. Harry had been trying to use his father's old trunk, which was pretty large, but definitely couldn't take all the items he'd planned on bringing with him. The one Tokiya had pushed towards him was one of the older Potter trunks. It wasn't terribly flashy, rather it was very plain, its only decorations being a sky blue and gold dragon in the middle, and the name "Potter" carved into the outer surface of the lid.

The swordsman grinned, "I found the instruction booklet, and apparently you can activate various wards on it, apart from it being practically a house in itself. I guess magic really is something." Harry gaped and opened it hurriedly, spying what looked like a miniature room inside. The inside of the lid, however, was pretty normal, and a thin booklet sat in one of its pockets.

…

Harry, Tokiya, and Kagehoushi wandered around the library, admiring their work. The shelves weren't many, but they were pretty large, and as an experiment Harry tried to enchant the tables to provide books on a given subject when that subject was asked for. Unfortunately it didn't quite work out, and kept giving only the basic books on charms.

The kitchen was also pretty bare, with practically nothing in it apart from a stove. Harry made it a point to remember to find kitchen appliances. The bedrooms, of which there were two, appeared more used. A queen-sized bed in each, a mirror-wardrobe, desk, and on-suite bathroom left little to be desired, and Kagehoushi wondered about staying in here sometimes when she wasn't traveling the world as the mistress of shadows.

The last room was completely empty, so they converted it into two smaller rooms. One became a potions lab and sometimes blacksmithing area, while the other became a dueling area. The small potions lab was the easiest, and Harry just pushed around his cauldron, and ingredients. Ingredient cupboards could come later.

The blacksmithing apparatus were Tokiya's hobby. He said it helped him relax and concentrate, and he could really create some very beautiful things. Among them was ring Harry now wore as a seal, just incase his flame went out of control. Not that it even threatened to happen anymore, but Kagehoushi thought it was important.

The dueling area was perhaps the most complicated, because they spent the most time on that room, moving things back and forth. Harry thought the water machines should be in different places from Tokiya, who grumbled the room was in the wrong position. Kagehoushi added in that there weren't enough shadows for her to use, and started a whole new round of moving.

………

Fawks visited again on the 31st of August. He didn't have a note, or anything though, and instead stared at Harry. The phoenix within Harry stirred, and they conversed, "I believe Fawks recognizes me. Take off the ring, I think we can communicate with him." Harry shrugged and did so.

"So you bear the phoenix mark? I am awed, never before have I seen a human with the phoenix mark."

"You haven't been around enough Fawks, I remember Kurei also carried the mark of the phoenix, while his half-brother Recca carried the Dragon mark."

"Erm, not to intrude, but exactly what does this mean? I thought I was merely a flame wielder."

"Wrong Harry. I thought so too myself, but then I can't actually see the body I inhabit while Fawks can. The phoenix mark means you are like a phoenix yourself. The difference is that you're human and because of the size difference you have something of an influence over phoenixes."

"Yes, it means you can converse with any phoenix, something which is usually reserved for between phoenixes and their chosen. I myself can converse with Albus, as I have with Godric, Merlin, and several others before him. It also means that you are neither dark nor light sided, though I'm not familiar with the details of that particular clause."

"What Fawks is saying, Harry, is that Albus's attempts at influencing you into being a Light Lord like himself are not going to work. True you will probably be in line with most of his ideals and plans, but you aren't going to use only Light magic. At least not light magic as he deems it. Bearing the phoenix mark means you're supposed to be like a balancing factor. You will find the lure of the dark great, but it is ultimately your choices that will matter most."

"You forgot the last bit, old friend. Harry, you're also going to have a bonded phoenix, or two if they choose you. The first should find you within a year, while the second will find you within the next seven years, assuming you are dual bonded of course."

Harry shook his head, "Alright I get it. I need to sleep, so if you're going to chit chat just keep me out of it, deal?" Fawks chuckled, "as you wish, sweet dreams."

………  .  ………

A/N: Next chapter, Hogwarts!


	2. Don't Push It!

Flame of the West: The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 2: Don't Push It!

4th November 2005

"It's through the pillar, just walk through and you'll see the Hogwarts Express. I'll meet you on the other side." Harry watched Kagehoushi fade into shadows before facing the wall and walking though, throwing a casual wink onto the creature on his shoulder. It was forest green and gold, sized like a swan, with brilliant blue eyes.

Harry grinned when he met Kagehoushi on the other side, "Aurora didn't like it. She says she'll get me to Hogwarts herself next time." The ancient woman, who incidentally didn't look a day over 20, smiled at him, "If she has something to do I can get you there as well. Now get on the train and find yourself a compartment, try not to show off alright? I'll see tonight in your trunk." With that she was engulfed by shadows and removed from Harry's line of sight.

He hauled his trunk through the corridor, noticing how empty the platform and locomotive were. "Well, I guess it is kind of early, only 10am and all. Boy these people must sleep in late." He found a compartment near the back of the train, settling into a deep nap while Aurora kept watch over him. Since bonding with the phoenix, he'd seen both an increased rate of strengthening of his shields and a small but tangible increase in his power levels.

………

Aurora gave a soft trill that woke Harry up just as a very pretty girl with long dark hair walked by, "Hi, are those seats taken?" Harry shook his head, "No, go ahead."

Padma had a twin sister, whom Harry privately thought was only similar in the physical appearance. Pavarti was more interested in males, and went from initially engrossed in a girl magazine to flirting with older boys in the corridor. Understandably, she was quickly out of sight, and out of mind. Harry was secretly relieved the males had passed by, Pavarti had nearly uncovered his scar.

Padma was much further into information gathering. She made light conversation with Harry, and small talk ensued, but was much more interested in talking about their possible lessons. She also quickly noticed the Katana Harry carried at his side, and deduced correctly that Harry was knowledgeable about the Japanese culture. Harry cocked his head and studied her carefully, he liked the Indian girl.

…

A little way into the journey, the door to their compartment opened to admit the blond boy Harry remembered from Madam Malkin's. The pampered prince glared at the two, and sneered, "So, they say Harry Potter's on the train. That's you is it?" His sneer turned more pronounced, "Can't even choose your friends right, Potter? Not even a proper pureblood family, even if it's a pureblood."

"The Dark Lord made a mistake once, but he'll be back, and if you're on the wrong side, you'll be dead. I can help you there." Harry raised a mocking eyebrow and stood, eye to eye with Malfoy, grabbed his wrist, and started crushing it. He snarled at his victim's body guards, "Not very effective, are you?" Turning back to his victim, who happened to be close to screaming in pain, "Keep out of my sight. Next time, I'll break it." He let go and pushed Malfoy out the door.

He sat back down heavily and scratched his head, "I hate that sort of person." Padma gave him a curious eye, "You're Harry Potter?"

………

"Potter, Harry." The Great Hall filled with murmurs, people jumping onto the tables and benches to have a look, craning their heads in ways that should not have been possible. Harry sighed in irritation as the Hat dropped onto his head, obscuring his view.

"Ah, Mr. Potter. I wondered when you'd come, an interesting life you've led too. Perhaps, no that wouldn't work. I…" The Hat was cut off when Harry panicked and slammed his mental shields into place violently, breathing hard. A gentle voice made its way to his ears, "Nothing bad will happen, Mr. Potter, I merely have to look into your mind to sort you." Harry relented with a frown.

"Well now, where would you go? You certainly would do well in Slytherian, you'd be well on your way to greatness. Gryffindor would be good too, you are brave to a fault. But you have a mind for information too, would Ravenclaw be best?" Harry sighed mentally, "If it's all the same to you, Mr. Hat, perhaps somewhere more inconspicuous?" he got the mental picture of a raised eyebrow, "In that case, yes, best be RAVENCLAW!"

Harry took of the Hat and returned it to the strict teacher waiting and grinned at her, "Well, that was fun." He ignored the cheering and slid into a seat beside the girl he'd met on the train, Padma, "well, that wasn't too bad was it?" He spent the rest of the time either talking or waiting for the food to appear.

…

Ravenclaw tower was perhaps the most interesting living area for students in the entire castle. Where Gryffindor and Slytherian had an almost stereotypical living room style, and Hufflepuff had a warmer feel to it, Ravenclaw's "Aerie" had its own library. Harry grinned to himself and settled himself to reading while absently feeding Aurora various treats.

Blue and bronze dominated the tower, extending into even the four-poster beds and covers. Harry set up his trunk at the foot of his bed, chuckling about how others seemed to be having trunk troubles. Introductions were made and stories passed around. Anthony Goldstein, Kevin Entwhistle, Stephen Cornfoot, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot traded stories far into the night while Harry quickly bid them a good night and setup wards around his bed.

If he'd stayed up, he'd have heard about a group of Gryffindors called the Marauders, and how Kevin Entwhistle's father had been constantly amused by the pranks they pulled. As it was, he slipped into his trunk to find Tokiya eating a sandwich and reading a book, "So how was it? Aurora flamed just now and took my ice cubes, just so you know." Harry sighed and set to his Katas.

………

"Potter! What would I get it I substituted catnip for dragon scale in the healing potion Totus Puteus?" Harry raised an eyebrow, "Firstly, sir, that is 6th year material, so I shouldn't know. Secondly, to answer your question, the result would be one of the more recently discovered Exploding Potions. Perhaps you could teach us what we're supposed to know this year?"

Snape snarled, "Just like your father, attention seeking, arrogant prat." Harry's eyes narrowed, "I am not here of my choice, Snape, I have no compulsions of doing you an injury. I'd advise you to teach."

…

"Harry, I don't think that was the best thing to do." Padma had concern spread across her face, and Harry sighed, "Probably not, but it does place my position very clearly." He raised his voice, "Of course, that would probably not stop him from pointing his wand at my back, would it?" Everyone stared, it was well known even this early in their education that badmouthing Snape was a bad thing.

Snape hurriedly put away his wand, "twenty points from Ravenclaw, Potter. Go to the Headmaster now." Harry flicked his wand, packing his belongings quickly and swept out of the dungeons rapidly. Snape followed shortly, dismissing the class.

…

"Ah, Harry. What can I do for you?"

"Many things right now, Headmaster. The biggest and best of which would be to remove your dear potions professor. Laying out my position and knowledge of the curriculum seems to be as bad an action as being incompetent." Snape burst in and immediately began yelling, making little sense.

"I find it difficult to believe that Harry would lie about something." Almost everyone jumped at this, and Mikagami revealed himself, "Indeed, I find it even more difficult to understand why this _thing_ is teaching when he is obviously unstable." Snape recovered quickly, "And exactly who are you? A muggle?"

Tokiya raised an eyebrow, "You really need to see the world, being cooped up in the dungeons has surely addled your mind. To answer your question, I am Tokiya Mikagami, guardian of Harry Potter here." Snape snarled, "We didn't call you in, you have no business being here." Tokiya laughed at that, "Indeed? Well then it's a good thing I came, isn't it? I'm sure Olympe would be happy to take Harry."

"Now, Mr. Mikagami, surely it isn't necessary? We're the best wizarding school in all the world, don't you want the best for Harry?" Tokiya sighed, "A school is but little more than its students. I warn you, teach. Anything more from any of your professors, and you'll find out exactly why I'm Master of multiple styles. Harry?"

…

They stopped in an empty classroom and Tokiya pulled out a package, "you'll like this I think." It was a rectangular box-like package, with a tag on it that read 'James Potter'. Harry's eyes widened and he tore the wrapping quickly, "Wow."

It was like some military dress-up thing. There was a hooded cloak, staff, and sword. The cloak itself wasn't anything special at first glance, being thick, black, with red trim. In reality, it had Basilisk hide inside, providing not only warmth, but protection as well. The staff also wasn't much to look at, quarterstaff-like with runes carved into it, but gave a warm feel in Harry's hands, like his wand, but more powerful.

The sword, however, was definitely a work of art. It was medium length unlike his long Katana, and straight. Dual edged, enchanted, forged mithril-steel composite, it glinted when Harry ghosted his hand over it. The handle too, was a gem of art, long and gemmed, with runes running along the pommel. The accompanying sheath was made of steel, with the glow of enchantments acting like a torch. Harry grinned, "And we were thinking of making another sword."

Tokiya chuckled, "I think just one sword a go, don't overdo it. I'll take the stuff back, you keep with that katana of yours. When's your next class?" Harry sighed, "five minutes. Aurora, flame me to the Transfiguration class please?"

………

Defense Against the Dark Arts was an abysmal joke, with Professor Quirrel stuttering and stammering his way through the session, eventually getting across the idea that he was trying to teach them the Flipendo hex. When Harry finally got it halfway through the session, he dropped his head into his hands and fell asleep blissfully.

Padma woke him up quickly with a friendly jab to the ribs. Harry jerked awake and barely stopped himself from reflexively breaking her skull against the desk behind her. He growled, "He's a bloody joke, I learnt this damned thing last week." She hissed back quickly, "Well listen anyway, you may just learn something!" He did. He learnt that Quirrel was deathly afraid of any spell remotely offensive in nature, or which produced a loud bang, which thankfully excluded sending sparks.

What he found odd was the thick smell of garlic in the room, and the oddly malicious emanations from Quirrel's turban. It gave a strong sense of magical power, something he'd expect from Dumbledore, as well as an air of calculating intelligence. Not something he wanted to play around with.

…

Charms, however, was easily his favorite class. Flitwick didn't bother if you made mistakes, simply pushing you to try again and again till you got it, always encouraging. Sure the charms that were taught, the levitation charm, among others, he'd learned by reading ahead, but the diminutive professor was always great fun.

He was greatly amused at his partner, the round-faced Gryffindor Neville Longbottom, who went through the spell like he was trying to remember it, and set the feather they were trying to levitate on fire. Similarly, he would later destroy the lock they were supposed to be unlocking, 'alohamora', and packed away the books Flitwick was using as a podium when learning to light a fire.

………

"Good, you're improving nicely. Get up again and go through the first Kata while I put together dinner for us." Harry sighed and hauled himself to his feet, drawing steady breaths and centering himself before beginning. It was an exhausting exercise, but gave Harry an opening to channel his frustration and anger into.

…

"Transfiguration is probably the most entertaining, reading about it was fun but actually doing it is another matter altogether. I wonder, the animagus transformation sounds really fun, don't you think?" Tokiya looked highly amused, "Indeed? I suppose it could be, what actually goes into it?" Harry's face fell slightly, "I don't know actually." Then his face brightened, "Malfoy was muttering about it in class actually, something about a book in the library. Beasting, the secrets of Animagi. Or something along those lines."

Tokiya cleared up their plates, "Well then, perhaps you should get the book? Or try Fen, logically speaking, animagi should come up in his centuries of knowledge." Harry returned to his kata, and after another hour returned to his dorm bed where he sat cross-legged and meditated. He entered his mind and went through his routine Occlumency shield checking. Nothing was wrong with them, so Harry decided to add another layer on the inside as a last line of defense. He grinned as he raised a wall of intense dark purple flames, exerting his will and molding it into a dome just inside the dome that was his existing Occlumency walls.

He found Rei studying the flames intently, "I wanted to speak with you." Aurora joined them through their bond and nodded her greetings. Reiketsu removed his attention from the firewall and quirked an eyebrow in Harry's direction, "What is it that you wish to know, fledgling?" Harry rolled his eyes, "Fledgling? Nevermind. I was wondering if you knew anything about the Animagus transformation. I heard and saw it in class, so I was wondering if you could show me how." Both phoenixes appeared thoughtful, but Aurora came through first, "The only one I saw involved a potion of some sort. I believe Gandalf's student, Arestis was an eagle, while Gandalf himself was unable to attain a form because the form he found was unable to contain his magical power. At then end though, I believe he found another form, a magical Pegasus that has since become extinct, which allowed him to transform."

Reiketsu seemed to ponder this, "From what I've seen, the wizard or witch has to be of a certain power level to be a singular Animagus, which you have or at least will exceed. Beyond certain levels, they gain additional forms. I know for a fact that Merlin had 7 forms, though he used them very little. He had a theory that as you progress in forms, the forms become fewer and fewer to choose from, and that after a certain level there would be no more and you reached something else. He theorized further that the traits of the form or forms would become evident in the person, allowing a phoenix animagus to fire travel in human form, for example. Consequently, the traits of the person would then color the form, meaning that certain things about the person would be evident in the form, usually physical traits. He later revised this and switched them round after observing one of his students."

Fawks appeared and gave Aurora an appreciative whistle before bowing to Harry, who looked at Rei and raised a questioning eyebrow. Rei shrugged, "You're basically a human phoenix Harry, no true phoenix can be fully denied to your mind, though all phoenixes are bound to the laws and therefore cannot do anything to your mind, though they can look around. Fawks?" the male phoenix nodded, "I caught the tail end of the conversation. Albus himself has 2 forms, he's a Pegasus and a Hawk, both with blue eyes and gray fur and feathers respectively. The advantage of being cooped up with Albus Dumbledore as opposed to being our and about is that you hear of various developments and breakthroughs. The relevant one is measuring magical energy.

"The most accurate way so far is the Tri-M system. MEL, MAL, and MRL stand for Magical Energy Level, Magical Access Level, and Magical Recovery Level respectively. Lets put it this way, everyone has a certain MEL, the average of which is around 100,000 give or take another 50,000 and any witch or wizard draws on this to cast spells. Some spells require you to channel power continuously to make them work, like the shielding spells. The MAL is how much power you can draw out in a certain period of time, usually measured in seconds. The basic shield protego utilizes roughly 100 units, with each spell taking away from the accumulated energy till it breaks, so its actually a negligible strain on your magic. The Mystic Shield, mysteria protegis, uses 300 units, on the same basis, so it in fact drains much more. Maintaining the shields, however, is the same 50 units per second.

"MRL though, is how much power you can regain over a certain period of time, usually measured in seconds. Average MRL is 40 units per second, though I know Albus's MRL is 70 units per second, which explains why he doesn't use basic shields. Measuring them though, is another matter. There are various methods, the most common of which involves charmed or enchanted parchment and a drop of blood. The other method currently in use is ordinary parchment and 3 drops of blood, and a vial of Blood Trait Revealing potion, aptly named wasn't it?" Harry nodded absently and compiled a mental list while Fawks continued, "Albus believes he has maximized the second level of animagus power levels. His MEL is 450,000 presently but was 400,000 when he discovered his second form. His MAL is 350, but that has little to do with the transformation itself. In fact, I'll get you one of the books he has on Animagi." Fawks disappeared and Harry raised his eyebrows, "If the forms are within, then I should be able to find them by looking around right?" Rei shrugged, "Wouldn't hurt to try I suppose." Aurora nodded, "I'm off for a binge, the kitchens have some wonderful fish."

Harry chuckled and looked around, "Well then, lets have a look eh?"

………  .  ………

A/N: Next chapter, new friends, more on animagi, and Dumbledore's turn.


	3. Form Up!

Flame of the West: The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 3: Form up!

03rd January 2006

Harry didn't think much of his dorm mates. Michael, Stephen, and Kevin were too proud for his liking, and while they did indeed have a fondness for books and knowledge, they just seemed so much more Gryffindor than Ravenclaw. Terry and Anthony, on the other hand, became his friends, though they would never be as close to him as Padma, his first friend at Hogwarts, or Su Li.

Su Li was perhaps the person Harry identified with the most. Both were raised in Asia and didn't speak like British as others did, he in Japan, she in China. Tokiya had taken him all over the world when he was younger, and China had been the first place. Padma, perhaps the most Ravenclaw of them all, was most interested in the different cultures whereas they too were intrigued by the Indian culture. They formed a little group, as others in the house had, becoming perhaps the most talked about in school.

Hermione Granger became the fourth in their group after Halloween. Having been sorted into Ravenclaw, she thought she'd finally be among true peers. Needless to say, she was highly disappointed when she found out nearly nobody shared her level of interest in books. Things had finally come to a head when she'd been partnered with Ron Weasley in Transfiguration, and he'd made various cutting comments which sent her crying. Ron had been given detentions with his head-of-house and Hermione hadn't been seen the rest of the day.

At the Halloween Feast, Professor Quirrel dashed into the Great Hall, his turban askew, he gasped, "Troll! Dungeons!" before promptly passing out and sparking mass panic, which only Harry and Su Li didn't react to. Harry grabbed Padma, "It is easiest to keep everyone safe if they're all in the same place." She promptly sat and continued hyperventilating. Harry caught Dumbledore's eye and gave him a significant look which the headmaster returned, "All students return to your seats. Professors McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, and Sprout please remain and guard the children. The rest of us, please follow me." On the way he caught Harry's eye and gestured for him to follow. The rest of the school watched in awe as Harry followed Dumbledore and the Professors out of the Great Hall.

Once outside, Dumbledore waved his wand, sealing the Great Hall shut before turning to the others, "The Troll could be anywhere by now, spread out. Hagrid, Victoria, and Harry, search the grounds. If you spot it going into the forest, don't stop it. The rest of us, the various towers and dungeons. Quickly now." Harry led his companions out the front door, "I'll search the lake area. Professor Vector, please check the pitch, neither Hagrid nor I can get it fast enough if it has reached the stands. Hagrid, the last third of the grounds are open area near where your hut is. Be careful." Aurora appeared in a flash of fire and in a whirlwind of flames they were gone.

Harry's hunch was right, and he found the troll just as it stood up from drinking. The large green creature raised its club onto its shoulder and turned to a tree. Gasping, Harry realized there was someone there, and from the robes and frame, he or she could only be a student. Aurora flamed him directly in front of the person, distracting the troll. Realizing that he didn't know any spell powerful enough to incapacitate the troll, Harry directed Aurora to get the Dumbledore while he drew his Kodachi. Channeling his magic into the blade, he jumped, aiming for the troll's head. A dull _thunk_ and a squelch signaled he'd caught the monster's attention, and he heard a scream as the person seemed to realize what was happening. He whirled away, realizing just how thick the troll's skin really was, blocking the club's downward arc, and realizing just how strong it was. He sheathed the blade and called up his flame, "Reiketsu!" his arm lit up in flames and he directed them at the troll, burning the creature's club to ash.

The thing seemed to realize that he had an actual opponent and gave a sickly half grin. Harry unsheathed his Katana and channeled his flame and ki into it, expanding the 3ft blade another 1.5ft in length and quadrupling it otherwise, turning it into a flaming, immense broadsword (think Innuyasha's Tetsusaiga). Bringing it into a viable stance, he charged, "Flames of Gaia!" he'd named this particular attack after reading about the birth of the Greek gods, mainly because he channeled his flame through any cracks in the ground. Being ancient ground, cracks and openings were a certainty, more so that the troll had just stomped. Harry jumped and slashed downwards, "Flaming Thundebolt!" (think Innuyasha's Kaze-no-Kize plus purple flames) not very original, but apt. Using his Ki, Harry could manipulate the interactions between the air and his blade, producing lightning, combined with his flames, producing the flaming thunderbolt. The troll didn't know what hit it, but screamed and screeched as it felt the attack strike its back, ripping through like a knife through jam.

Standing up and wiping the thin sheen of sweat, he noticed the sound of clapping from where the student had been. Looking up, he found Albus Dumbledore with several professors and Tokiya, as well as the student currently being held by Tokiya. Albus quickly stopped, "Well then, professors, please inform the house heads that the danger's over and that Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger will be rejoining their house shortly." He waited till his colleagues had left before turning to Harry, "Well done Harry, I congratulate you on that excellent bit of magic, the likes of which I've never seen before. If you don't mind me asking, where did you learn it?" Tokiya answered, "It's not magic. The first was simple sword skills with a Kodachi and after that he used his fire. After that he used his Katana and Ki. So you see, there's no magic in it. I must admit though, that he could have simply used his fire to win?" Here he glanced at Harry. Recognizing the analysis of a mistake, Harry bowed his head, "I'm still not up to Recca's level, I can't get it into a proper weapon." Tokiya recognized the avoiding statement, "really? That doesn't diminish the Rei's destructive power." Harry winced, "I didn't think of it, I still can't channel that kind of power yet. Rei says I'm still to young, but that my channeling levels should increase at an accelerated pace now that I'm older."

Tokiya nodded, "Indeed? Then we will be training more, and harder. If your channels are widening and strengthening, then you should be able to take it. Heaven knows why my master didn't do that." Albus had been quiet through the exchange, "Surely there isn't a need for that level of harshness? He's just a child!" Harry snarled, "I'm not a child. If I am, then you're a walking corpse." Albus was taken aback, so he backtracked and tried a different track, "You're a Flame Master? I wasn't aware that they still existed." Tokiya shook his head, "He is a Flame Apprentice. I doubt he'll reach the level of a Flame Master for another few years. More importantly though, Ms Granger here should get back to the Raven's Aerie, it will get chilly soon." Albus nodded, "Indeed, 20 points to Ravenclaw for clearing the school of a threat Mr. Potter, please return to your common room." He started to walk away but turned back, "Oh, and congratulations on bonding with a most beautiful phoenix."

From then on, Hermione had become part of the group, and her appetite for learning only increased with the availability of different cultures to learn of.

………

Their first flying lesson with the Slytherians and Gryffindors was pretty much a failure. Neville Longbottom was what seemed to Harry as the stereotypical downtrodden, and he just couldn't help but wonder exactly what was wrong. His shoulders and back showed a defeatist attitude, and he shuffled his way to a broom slowly, nervously glancing at a small red ball in his hand.

His broom didn't move. Even Hermione's broom rolled around on the ground, even though she was well known within their year for an almost phobia of heights and flying. Harry's though, jumped into his hand instantly, humming with anticipation. Harry observed his classmates, wondering absently if broomsticks actually _could_ feel anticipation. Eventually though, everyone was mounted and ready, Madam Hooch going round correcting people's grips, chastening Draco Malfoy for a badly positioned Seeker's grip. Harry didn't like the glint in his eye.

Neville, jumpy with overextended nerves began rising into the air almost gently, and so Hooch didn't realize till he screamed just before slipping off the handle and crashing to the ground. Harry sighed, there were some things that were just meant to happen. Madam Hooch proclaimed that nobody was to move in the slightest till she got back for fear of expulsion. That didn't stop Malfoy though, he picked up Neville's rememberall and laughed, "Look it's that thing the oaf's gran sent him! I wonder if he'll miss it?" Harry frowned, but was beaten to the punch by Ron Weasley, "Give it back, Malfoy." Said heir snorted, "Like you even had a chance of catching me, weasel. But you're right. I shall leave it for him to collect, perhaps the gargoyle on that tower?" He almost gracefully glided up on his broom, not even properly gripping it.

Harry's jaw tightened, that was something that would have happened to him at the Dursleys, and he'd be damned if he let it happen again, "I _suggest_ you don't." his tone left no doubt it was anything but. Malfoy paled slightly as he remembered their last meeting, but that was hardly noticeable on his already pale skin. And then he smirked, "Like you have a chance either, Potty." Harry mentally called Aurora and she appeared in a flash of fire, "No, perhaps I don't. But I can assure you, Malfoy, that Aurora here does, his eyes flashing a dangerous green. Malfoy's sneer became a worried frown, phoenixes were kings once in the air, "Catch it if you can!" He hauled back and threw the rememberall as far as he could.

Harry watched it fly up and begin its climax. Time seemed to slow as his broom flew into his hand and he mentally communicated with Aurora. A whirlwind of fire later, he was just within reach of the little ball, and grabbed it, just before starting his fall. Getting both feet on the broom, he did the only thing that was logical to his mind. He stood on it.

Everyone on the ground gasped in fear as his downward flight was suddenly halted and slowed such that Harry hovered around the second floor, standing on the broom with the wind whipping his hair and robes around him. He looked like some god or other, and Malfoy couldn't help but stare in awe. The moment was broken though, when Flitwick opened his window, which Harry just happened to be hovering in front of, "Mr. Potter! Come in here now. Mr. Malfoy, fifty points from Slytherian, and I shall be speaking to both Professor Snape and Headmaster Dumbledore. Harry?" Harry sighed as he floated into his Charms Professor's classroom.

…

Out on the grounds, Malfoy was leading a dance with the other Slytherians, celebrating the possible expulsion of Harry Potter, while the others, starting with the Ravens, stalked off muttering about "twice-be-damned snakes". Madam Hooch returned to collect the brooms later, arriving just in time to see Minerva McGonagall berating the Slytherians for skipping class.

…

Inside the Charms office, Flitwick had Harry sit down across from him, "You realize you broke a rule, don't you? For such, twenty points from Ravenclaw and detentions with the Headmaster. However, I saw what happened, and I have something in mind for you. Please call in Mr. Ackerly, he is waiting outside with his classmates. Harry nodded and did as bidden, and the tall lanky Ravenclaw entered quickly, "Professor?"

"Mr. Ackerly, I want you to meet Mr. Harry Potter. Mr. Potter, Mr. Stephen Ackerly. Mr. Ackerly is the captain of the Ravenclaw quidditch team. Mr. Potter here has just displayed for me, inadvertently, an excellent sense of balance, co-ordination and control. I remember we need to replace a Seeker, a Beater, and a Chaser. Mr. Potter, I believe, has a chance at any of those positions." Stephan raised his eyebrows, "Know what Quidditch is?" Harry nodded, "Yes, in part at least, but I have Transfiguration now." Flitwick nodded, "True, take this note, Professor McGonagall will understand. Stephen, please call in the class."

………

The Trials were like a trait difference between the different houses. The Slytherians would be gesturing rudely or threateningly at each other, silently willing any given candidate to fall and break an appendage. The Gryffindors would be going through extraneous stunts or some such. The Hufflepuffs would cheer each other on, something no other house would do. The Ravenclaws were an exercise in outdoor classes. Most were perusing books on quidditch, or magazines on equipment.

Harry had inherited a substantial portion of the Searing Flames, a broom producing company like Nimbus. After being ordered to the tryouts, he'd spoken to Tokiya over Katas, and his guardian had agreed to visit the company president on Harry's behalf. Harry was now the proud owner of the prototype Flare, the latest broom off the drawing board after the Bonfire. It wasn't even on the market yet, but owning 20 of one of the three largest broom producers globally did that for you. Harry watched as Cho Chang, a second-year, tried out for the Seeker and Chaser positions with a Nimbus 2001, also a prototype, off the current Nimbus 2000.

He himself tried out for all three spots, but found that he wasn't quite suited to the Beater position, and that the last bludger almost took his arm off. His fault for underestimating its speed. Chaser was an interesting spot, he'd been reading one of the advanced books, just for the theory, and found a set of runes that were most interesting. His broom now came to his call with the aid of recalling runes carved into the handle, allowing him to jump into empty space to score and call his broom on the way down.

…

That was how he came to be in the Chaser position on the week after Gryffindor lost to Slytherian. Their chasers though, Harry decided, were probably the best one would possibly find for a while yet. Cho smiled at him over her shoulder from the Seeker position beside their Keeper, and Harry felt the rush of adrenaline as they went through their warm up laps.

Harry settled into position as Madam Hooch, refereeing the match, called for fair play. It was really beside the point, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws for the most part couldn't find it in their hearts to cheat against their opponents. The Bludgers came first, zooming away over their heads into the sky with the Snitch following close behind, disappearing to the human eye. Taking out the large red quaffle, she threw it into the air and Harry zoomed down, grabbing it just after it left her hand and speeding towards the open Hufflepuff goal.

He smirked inwardly, their keeper had had a head start on him, but they were neck and neck now, with the other chasers not a threat. Angling up, he lured the keeper away from the hoops before releasing his broom and dropping down to the farthest hoop to score like an NBA player he'd once seen on a one-handed windmill dunk. Dropping from there, he grabbed his broom mid-air and zoomed away to thunderous applause from the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor masses. Plucking the quaffle mid-pass a few possessions later above the Gryffindor stands, he heard Ron mutter about attention-seeking prats and wondered if it'd be a foul if he fumbled and dropped the quaffle on Ron's head.

Cho was having a hard time, Cedric Diggory didn't taunt or sneer like some other seekers to pass through Hogwarts, but was an excellent seeker. Even riding the previous model of the Nimbus, the 2000, he had Cho struggling to keep up with his far superior skills. The snitch had been absent so far, but Hufflepuff had managed to keep the score difference down to 4 goals.

Finally, an hour of spectacular goals, saves, dives, and rolls later, Cho finally dived with a light in her eyes, chased by Cedric Diggory. Closer and closer they hurtled towards the ground, Cho twitching this way and that as if the snitch were not flying a proper course. Cedric's eyes narrowed but he continued following her. Then all at once, Cho extended her arm like she was going to catch the snitch, and used it as a fulcrum while pulling on her broom such that is did almost a 180. Cedric caught the movement and executed a barrel roll just in time, narrowly missing the grassy pitch. His shoulder caught a particularly thick patch of grass and he fell the few inches to roll over on the ground. Harry flew over to congratulate Cho on an almost perfect Wronski Feint, much as she'd tried so many times in practice. He quickly doubled back to catch the quaffle and returned to his spot.

Cho, on the other hand, went back to searching for the snitch, and not five minutes later was diving towards the base of the Hufflepuff goals with Cedric hot on her tail. This time she didn't budge at all, flying straight for the thick golden pole. Cedric managed to catch up with her, but then the snitch suddenly flew upwards, causing both seekers to knock into each other. Unfortunately, this meant Cho, with her smaller and lighter frame, fell to the ground while Cedric was left clutching his head. Harry, the closest from just scoring, swooped down to catch her as Madam Hooch called a time-out.

It was a tense timeout, Cho had been flying exceedingly well, and nobody wanted to take her out. Yet she had strained her right neck muscles, which basically mean no flying for fear of greater complications. Stewart faced all his players, his face grim, "We're going to take a gamble then. We have the advantage, 90-120, but we need the snitch to win. Harry, you take Seeker, we need someone to catch the slippery little thing, and we'll hold the fort. Just catch it quick and everything will be fine. Alright?" They broke huddle just as Madam Hooch blew her whistle, signaling the match resumed. Harry took to the air, getting a feel for the pitch as Cedric took to his own small circle in the middle, watching for the elusive golden ball.

They both spotted it at the same time, Harry and Cedric equally far from the Snitch, neck and neck when the Snitch suddenly swooped downwards and the followed. They leveled off bare inches off the grass, Cedric slightly higher, as they closed in on the Snitch on its straight course. It suddenly dipped before rising a foot higher than before. Harry, expecting to have to pull up, stayed on course, but Cedric, reacting instantly to the dip, dipped violently in a bid to snatch it away. Unfortunately, he was thrown by the instant rise of the golden ball and crashed. Harry, however, managed to maintain his course and distance from the Snitch, but it seemed to be gaining speed as he did himself. Deciding that there was only one thing to try, Harry got up from the crouching position he was in, and stood on the broom, profiled. He muttered sticking light sticking charms on his boots and reached for the snitch. It elevated sharply, and Harry maneuvered to follow it, making it just in time for the Snitch to rise snugly into his palm, securing the victory for Ravenclaw.

………

The match against Gryffindor was an intense affair, and Harry just barely managed to hold down the more experienced Alicia Spinnet. Cho had an easy time catching the snitch, beating the shortsighted Demelza Robins to the golden ball, snatching victory from the jaws of the lions, literally. Even then, the score was only 190-170, and Harry condeeded later that Oliver Wood was an amazing keeper.

Perhaps the most humiliating affair was the match against the Slytherians. Humiliating for the Slytherians, that is. Keeper Miles Bletchley decided that if Harry could do the flying quaffle dunk or an alley-oop off a lob from one of the other Chasers, then he could do the flying one-armed quaffle block. Without his broom. Madam Pomfrey confined him to the Hospital Wing for a week. Bole and Derrick, the Slytherian Beaters, were condeeded to have amazing hitting power and aim. Unfortunately, they also hadn't their eyes on the game, so when Harry caught their eye with the quaffle, and began flying towards the right hoop, they didn't realize that Marcus Flint, their captain and chaser was going to be in the path of the quaffle, laying him out for a month with a bludger each to the head and back.

Terrance Higgs, with astounding determination and courage worthy of a Gryffindor, wouldn't let himself be beaten by a petite second year, and followed her into not one, not two, but three Wronski Feints, each time coming out worse for wear. Eventually, after he crashed into the Ravenclaw stands, he was taken to Madam Pomfrey's tender loving care on a stretcher, out cold. Their remaining players, Derrick, Bole, Montague and Warrington, played their best ever, which wasn't hard since Flint often dominated the quaffle on their side and yelled at the beaters often, but they couldn't score and defend based on 2 chasers against 3 and a keeper, losing eventually 350-90 when Cho caught the Snitch.

Hermione just couldn't, or wouldn't, understand why exactly throwing a few balls around and flying about was considered exciting. She did, however, scream in fear the first time she saw Harry leap from his broom and dunk the quaffle, and later gripped him in a death hug, relieved he was still alive.

………

Harry lay flat on his bed, floating an inch and a half off it on a cushion of hot air. He was meditating, dead to the world. He was again looking for his animagus form, or forms. Only the last quadrant was left to be scoured, otherwise he'd have to descend into the labyrinths that were his cerebellum. Indeed, he found something like it, a touch of familiarity, a tinge of animal instincts, and he was off on the trail, deep into the dungeons of his mind.

…

To the outside world it had only been an hour, and everyone was still asleep. But to Harry it was like an eternity, following the trail had led him further from the bustling metropolis that was his mind into the dark, unexplored dungeons behind and below it. The trail was growing warmer, and Harry knew his search was nearing its end, but did it have to really be that long?

He rounded a corner and found it. A dark red cage over two amazing animals, but the net-like cage seemed to originate from something, and this something reeked of evil magic and intent. He stepped round to it, and drawing his katana, and absently wondering how it had got there, he severed the cage from it. Calling Aurora and Reiketsu to him, he drew on their flames and magical energy, augmenting his ki, and blasted at the glowing red globe. For an instant after it shattered and disappeared, Harry felt nothing, then he knew only pain and then nothing.

As his vision faded, he made a note to remember his forms were a bird of some sort, and a four-legged creature.

………  .  ………

A/N: Next chapter, the animagi themselves, and I'll be writing a weird little idea that took me with it.

A/N 2: This is going to be a short fic, Harry's first year wasn't quite as powerfully dark or foreboding as his later years (GoF, OotP, HBP come to mind).


	4. What Do You Want?

Flame of the West: The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 4: What Do You Want?

04th January 2006

Draco Malfoy was furious that _Potter_ had gotten away with a victory over Slytherian, let alone such a humiliating victory. He hardly remembered their previous run-ins they'd had with each other, and besides, he'd learnt much since from his father. He sauntered up the Ravenclaw table with Crabbe and Goyle flanking him, "think you're so great do you, Pot-head? That victory was a fluke, that's the only reason you birds won."

Harry sighed, "I'd take such a humiliating victory, even if it was a fluke, any day over a well fought loss. Of course, you'd know nothing about that wouldn't you? Or so you'd tell others…" He trailed off, causing Malfoy to redden in rage, "Is that so? Then I challenge you to a wizards duel! Midnight, trophy room." Harry raised an eyebrow, "Is that so? Then Su Li is my second, who's yours?" Malfoy sized up his cronies then caught one of his housemate's eyes, "Nott. Don't be late."

Harry chuckled, "I won't be, if of course, you swear a wizards oath to be there on time yourself...?" He'd caught the gleam in the pale boy's eyes and knew something bad was afoot. Malfoy paled even further, if that was possible, but back tracking now was impossible without losing greatly, so they both swore to be there on time and Harry grinned, "You're it."

…

The trophy room was big and crowded, trophies and plaques all over. Harry spied several with familiar names, McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Flitwick, among others. It was dark and the floor creaked badly. Padma and Su Li leaned against the pillars that weren't crowded with awards and Harry stood in the middle, waiting.

Right at midnight, Draco Malfoy appeared with Theodore Nott behind him, as well as the customary Crabbe and Goyle. The weedy, almost sickly looking Nott glared at him with dark eyes but Harry shrugged. He and Malfoy made their way to the centre, bowing slightly to each other. Malfoy's first spell flew clear over Harry's shoulder and hit one of the doors. Harry's first spell hit Malfoy dead centre and threw him back a few feet, magically bound. Nott stepped in quickly and fired off several quick hexes before diving under the incoming curse.

Harry parried the hexes with a shield, and sent a number of charms and hexes at his opponent while charging a more powerful spell. The moment Nott stood up, Harry released the pent up stunner, throwing Nott into a wall with a crash. All was silent for a few moments when they heard the caretaker's seedy voice, "Sniff them out my sweet, they're there somewhere." Harry's eyes narrowed before he turned, grabbing his friends' arms and wandlessly unlocking the door behind them and running for all they were worth.

They finally stopped outside a locked door. Wide eyed, they realized they were in the forbidden corridor! Harry snarled impudently and smashed the door lock open with a fist and locked them in with a wandless and wordless _Claudo_ before he turned round and came face to face with a Cerebus. They froze, as did the three-headed dog. The canine recovered first and leapt forward with a roar. Harry frowned and waved his wand, _Desino_, and eyed the dog curiously. In his travels with Tokiya, they'd met various magical beasts, one of them being the Cerebus, particularly in China and Greece. One of them, a magnificent beast by the name of Praefinio, had a highly inquisitive cub. Said cub had been rescued from a particularly vicious Direwolf belonging to a passing Druid, but sustained a deep gash on its side. As the dog in front of them fell o its left, Harry noticed an especially nasty scar on its flank and smiled, "Well I never. I'll have to speak with Hagrid about you. Now go back to sleep."

Padma and Su Li stared at him like he was mad, and Padma fainted when the dog actually went back to sleep. Harry grinned and sent a charm at the door, showing nothing hiding out in the corridor before waking Padma. Silently they fled the scene, watching for professors. Unfortunately, they caught Snape and Quirrel arguing quietly in a darkened corridor. Sensing someone watching him, Snape spun around with a freezing charm. Harry deflected it with a flick of his wand instantly and pulled his friends into a nearby empty classroom while Snape fired off immobilization curses everywhere recklessly before storming off when he found no one.

The three sighed in relief and Padma groaned, "Three surprises in one night is too much for me. I doubt my heart can take much more of this." Harry looked round the room and grinned, "Well prepare for another then, I wonder what this mirror does." 'it reeks of magical power, I wonder…' He stepped in front of it and the surface shifted to become his parents, then to become his immediate cousins, then slowly the rest of the Potter line came through. A lot of red hair, mostly on females, several knobby knees, green eyes, messy raven locks, Harry gulped, he was staring, for the first time, at his family. _'My family'_, he thought, _'sounds so…alien…'_ He frowned, and consciously strengthened his Occlumency shields, searching for the probe. He finally found the probe, and tested it only to gasp when he felt the immense magical power it used. _'Where does it draw this power from?'_

The time to leave came quickly though, and the three Ravens flew back to their common room, passing the portrait hole without mishap. They landed in a heap in front of the dying embers of the fire. Su Li recovered first, "What was that Harry? You just spoke to it and…" Harry chuckled, "I've been all over the world Su, and no matter what Hermione could tell us tomorrow when we ask her, it is indeed possible for me to have met and made friends with a certain Cerebus puppy." He grinned and their shocked faces, "It's time for bed. C'mon then, go on, we'll talk more in the morning."

………

Harry got up early in the morning to speak with Hagrid. Fortunately, the gamekeeper also awoke early and was tending to the Hogwarts gardens. Harry pitched in with him while they spoke, "What do you know of Cerebi, Hagrid?" It turned out that Hagrid indeed knew a lot about the three-headed dog that mythically guarded the gates of hell. It also transpired that 'Fluffy' as Hagrid called him, had come to him lost, alone and hungry. Hagrid had taken in the little pup and raised it. Pampered by Hagrid and provided by the Forbidden Forest with plenty of game, Fluffy became the great hulking Hell Hound his father had been.

Hagrid was amazed at what Harry told him. A seven-year-old making friends with Fluffy's mother? Inconceivable! Yet it was entirely plausible from what little he knew of Harry's upbringing, and roared when Harry told him about Fluffy being swatted by his mother. He'd sobbed and wiped his eye when Harry told him about the Direwolf, and returned it with the time Fluffy had met the Runespoor he kept for his NEWT classes. He showed it to Harry later, it was a truly impressive specimen, well advanced in age to most others of the endangered specie. The average Runespoor was recorded to be around six and a half feet in length, but Hagrid's had been well raised and at full extension could reach a total of either and a half feet.

The Boarhound, Fang, came over once it woke up and drooled all over Harry's leg. Nothing that couldn't be cleaned with a simple flick of a wand, or finger in Harry's case, but nevertheless annoying. He soon left to join his friends at breakfast in the Great Hall.

………

"What exactly could it be hiding? Not much would warrant such a powerful magical beast, right?" Su Li contradicted Padma, "Well if the price is right, anything could warrant it. You just need someone powerful enough to summon them." Hermione interrupted, "Actually, I remember reading about people actually taming them and raising them as magical pets. The last one was killed and its owner prosecuted over a hundred years ago though." Harry was lost in thought, the auras around Hogwarts didn't help his reading of power signatures, but whatever it was would have to have an immense aura if it had to be guarded by a Cerebus.

That wasn't the only thing worrying though, as he'd grown accustomed to the many auras around Hogwarts, he'd learnt to differentiate individual auras, assuming the person was on his or her own, roughly 1.5 feet away from the next person. Quirrel had a dark aura, mostly dark green and some browns with a few swirls of purple and blue. His turban though, was much more. The 'Turban Aura' as he'd taken to calling it, was a deep purple and black, with thick swirls of blue and maroon. Harry frowned, Dumbledore had a similar aura, and by subject size, roughly equal. The most worrying thing, though, was that the TA was a good bit larger than Quirrel's, just with an ethereal appearance.

He later overheard what seemed like a conversation.

"The Stone, have you found it?"

"N-n-no, m-m-master, I h-h-have y-y-y-yet to find a way p-p-past the p-protections."

"Then hurry up, my patience grows thin. Very thin."

"M-m-master, I b-beg, the a-a-aura finding s-spells d-don't work p-p-properly…"

"Fool! Hogwarts has perhaps the highest concentration of magic in all Europe! Try something else!"

Quirrel hurried away a few minutes later, but Harry didn't notice, too busy wondering what exactly 'The Stone' meant.

…

"It could mean several things, though we're probably looking at just one of four possible." Hermione drew out a piece of parchment and scratched out with her quill as she spoke, "The first possibility is the Vindico Calx, roughly translated means the Stone of Protection. It's an ancient artifact supposedly now in fragments, and is supposed to provide an ancient advanced barrier. It is possible, I suppose, that Dumbledore has recovered most or all the fragments and reconstructed the stone." Padma's eyebrows rose, and Su Li looked like she was going to interrupt, but Hermione plunged on without giving them a chance.

"The second, and even more unlikely, is the Orb known as Tal Rasha's Eye. It is perhaps the oldest on my list, and belonged to the Horadric mage Tal Rasha, who existed in the time when angels often came to earth and demons often came to meet them on the battlefield, so it's quite possible that it isn't around anymore. However, we have to take into account that the goblins were around then and could have held onto it, and now Dumbledore is taking care of it for them." Harry frowned at this, but Padma shushed him, anticipating the next artifact.

"The most unlikely is the Orb known as the Orb of Shadows, and is said to corrupt the wielder by combining part of their life force with that of the victim's to transform the victim into a demon of some sort. Details are sketchy, but apparently it was involved in some demon war or other and has since shrunk such that it became a gem in a sword handle." Harry chuckled, knowing exactly what had become of the orb, and the gem in Kagehoushi's personal psychic device.

"Lastly we have Nicholas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone. It has two functions, a lesser form of the Midas Touch, turning any metal into gold, and can be used to produce the Elixir of Life which basically grants eternal life with the condition of drinking it regularly. I don't remember the last one or two functions though, that and how often one has to drink the Elixir. I do, however, remember a reference to Phoenix Tears, which suggests great healing powers, and the Phoenix Gem, but that is very small so probably not 'The Stone' we're looking for." She paused to check if she'd missed anything and Harry took the opportunity, "It's not the Orb of Shadows. That was tamed with Psychic Melding and used in the warring stages of Japan. It's still around though. Tal Rasha's eye though, I know someone who was around at that time, but now…she mentioned once that she'd tried tracking it down but lost it before she could find it."

Su Li cut in, "The Vindicio Calx is partly with my family, stored in one of our secret tombs, so that isn't it. The remaining fragments, even if joined together, wouldn't amount to any of the more advanced modern shields and protection lines. My brother said the Calx would probably lose its power and die out eventually, but then he was really young at the time so I don't know. Mother and Father though, they seem to know where the Calx is..." Padma caught the trail off, "So it's settled then, it's either the Philosopher's Stone or the Phoenix Gem. Small wonder why Quirrel would want either, the Phoenix Gem is so pure it's supposed to have killed some ruthless Baroness when she tried to force it into a ring on her finger." Harry whistled appreciatively at that and Madam Prince scowled at their backs. He glanced at them, "Well, lets see what else we can learn about 'The Stone' from its maker, shall we?"

………

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_First, let me start off by saying how pleased I am to finally speak with you, no matter how indirect this is. I've been meaning to write you for some time, but just haven't been able to get round to it. Dragon Blood, I assure you, would seem to have another use or two._

_Onto the subject, my Philosophers' Stone. Your friend is indeed brilliant if she can deduce from rumors, myths, and stories, the uses for it. Indeed it can make gold, produces the Elixir of Life, and heal with great effectiveness. I won't release the last use, as it is really a diabolical one, but I will tell you that it is best left alone._

_If you and your friends are interested, perhaps a month after the Christmas holidays we can have a chat. I need to speak with Albus, Headmaster Dumbledore to you, so I will be visiting Hogwarts anyway, and I'd like to see these protections that have been put up. As for the Phoenix Gem, I assure you it is quite safe, as I have attached it to the crystal powering the wards around my home._

_Yours,_

_Nicholas Flamel_

_Alchemist Extraordinaire_

"Well, that certainly clears things up, a reply anyone? Aurora can send it off for us." Hermione, the parchment quick draw, had the parchment and the 'Dear Mr. Flamel' ready an instant after Harry finished his sentence.

They got the letter together and sent it off just in time for classes. Harry waited till they were up the first three stairs before speaking, "What do you think of becoming Animagi?" All three girls stumbled and he laughed.

………

Harry's last night before Christmas was perhaps the best so far. He found both his forms were magical, though he currently only had the power levels to perform one of them, the Dire Wolf. The Phoenix was mostly magical and he hadn't the capacity he'd need to fulfill the phoenix requirements of power. He didn't mind though, the Direwolf was an amazing creature, not as powerful magically as the phoenix, but almost as resistant to spells as the fully grown Acromantula.

He didn't dream, instead he spent most of his time integrating his inner-wolf into himself, becoming wolf and man at different times. Like he'd been told, parts of his animagus form flowed into himself, as parts of himself became part of the wolf. The canine dark eyes became an intense green and the fur on his head became a dark blue squiggle that vaguely resembled a lightning bolt. He sighed in relief when he noticed the dark blue almost blended in perfectly with his jet black fur. He grinned as the feeling of familiarity flowed through him, accompanied by the feedback from the wolf animagus form. Sleep came blissfully after that.

The "Fantastic Four" as Hermione had dubbed them one late night after they'd all pitched in to complete a particularly nasty essay from Snape to their satisfaction, sat in a square-like formation, while Harry led them in the initial stages of meditation in finding their Animagus forms, later for awareness of their own minds, and finally for the beginning stages of Occlumency.

Hermione had been the hardest to convince, especially with the threat of breaking the law, not some silly school rule. Harry would later hold her to that comment, but for now he chuckled at the memory of emotions warring across Hermione's face: the desire to grab all the books on animagi and memorize them, or turn down the opportunity and report them because authority was always right. _Almost_ always she'd later amended, but Harry had already seen all he needed to.

Padma was easier to convince, showing that the Indian magical culture was in fact much more versatile than almost anywhere else in the world. On the other hand, it also explained why the crime rate was so high, and why their Law Enforcement was a great source of employment. Her father himself was an animagus, one of the seven that last century who was registered, he could become a Hammerhead Shark at will. In keeping with "family tradition" Padma agreed to learn to be an animagus, or at least try to. Harry warned them all that they might not have a form, even if they reach the required power level.

Su Li had been schooled in a Chinese Martial Art known as the Unbeatable Cat-Fist, or Neko-ken as Tokiya called it. As she later admitted, she only knew part of it, a minute proportion of the whole, but then she wasn't exactly descended from the gods or anything like that. Nearly everyone who'd tried to learn the full version of the Neko-ken had either gone mad or had died. Still, with the small bit she knew she was on a par with Harry for the opening stages of a fight, and used meditation to keep her feline side sated. Harry theorized that with the animagus transformation, she'd become a feline of some sort and possibly become better suited to the style. His personal view though, was that it was more a torture than anything else.

………  .  ………

A/N: I've a pretty solid timeline in mind, and the trials will roughly be the same, though I might add a bit more on a one or two. The flame doors though, I believe Dumbledore and Voldemort (Quirrel) got through without needing the potion, so it would follow that Harry possibly could with either the right equipment or spells…or immunities…


	5. Learning is Everywhere

Flame of the West: The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 5: Learning is Everywhere

09th January 2006

"Harry, it is good to see you again. How have your lessons been?" Harry settled himself into a rather large chair across from the aged Headmaster and appeared thoughtful, "Lessons, for the most part, have been interesting. The books assigned provide adequate material but do not give the insight of an actual teacher. I personally find it very different from any previous reading I did, since most advanced books I've seen are somewhat more impersonally written."

Dumbledore chuckled lightly, "Indeed Harry, indeed. I wonder though, how you have been dealing with Potions class? Severus has been by several times to complain about your threats which according to him are becoming more and more vocal?" Harry sighed, "I do not make verbal threats, headmaster. I find them to be ultimately ineffective, I do advocate the visible defense though. I now carry two swords around at all times. One as you know is my prerogative, but I find having a concealed weapon is always an advantage. Something you'd know of, wouldn't you, headmaster?"

Dumbledore beamed, "I wondered when a student would realize the real reason for such long robes. Though I must say bright pink and purple do not quite go so well with white and silver don't you think?" Not listening for an answer, Dumbledore swished his wand in a circular fashion and his robes changed from bright purple with bright pink fairies to dark purple and sky blue fairies. Much easier on the eyes, in Harry's opinion, and commented as much. Dumbledore only smiled and nodded to it, "I've been doing some thinking, Harry, and I had a rather interesting idea. I myself have little to no skills apart from magic, in which I am singularly powerful, if you'll pardon the lack of humility.

"I noticed, the last time I watched you, that your skills reside mainly in the muggle world of martial arts. While this is commendable and in your case incredible, I believe you are also similarly powerful in magic, and that you shouldn't let this go to waste. The ages of 11 through 14, and 16 through 19 are times of the greatest growth in magical potential. It would be a shame to waste yours much as mine was partially wasted. As such, I was wondering if you would agree to a duel, say, every fortnight till the fortnight before your exams and the same thereafter." Harry considered and bounced the idea around with his training schedule and nodded, "It sounds educational. Tell me Headmaster, what else would we do in these dueling times?"

Albus smiled his twinkling smile, "Duel of course, what better way to exercise your magical muscle?" Harry raised an eyebrow and snorted slightly, and Dumbledore chuckled, "I will, of course, be teaching you other spells and techniques. Reading books, while good, is not the only or even best way to learn. For some people though, I will concede it is the only way." Harry chuckled, thinking of Hermione, "Indeed? I agree actually. What I wanted to ask about, though, is the idea of Animagi." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and evil eyed Fawks, "Animag Harry? Well, it _is_ a most interesting subject, and I will attempt to cover as completely as possible to you."

………

The night sky was beautiful, and Harry in his Dire Wolf form was very much taken with it, deciding that the full moon only enhanced its beauty. He chuckled, almost impossible in wolf form so it came out a snort, cut off when he heard a distant howl. His ears pricked up and twitched, the distinct sound of something not-quite right reaching his sensitive hearing. Tensing his muscles he launched his large frame into the Forest towards the yowl.

Remus had had a bad week. His werewolf side coming out led to passing Demon Hunters chasing him. Fortunately his lycanthropy gave him greatly enhanced speed and strength, so he'd made it to the relative safety of the Forbidden Forest near Hogwarts. Exhausted, his transformation had been even more painful than usual, though thankfully he was safely away from humans, free as he was meant to be. He bounded through the dense undergrowth, reveling in the feel of flight, or as close as he'd get.

He was far from pure, but that wasn't important. Unicorns, he decided, were greatly misunderstood. They worked on intentions, if you had impure motives then they'd elude you to the ends to the earth. Barring Voldemort, Remus didn't think any could catch a unicorn. His musings were cut short by the appearance of another canine. He didn't recognize what it was, but it was large. Very large, with fangs large enough to deter any creature, and piercing green eyes that would have stopped a bloodlust fuelled frenzy. His eyes narrowed and he snarled a challenge, canine instincts taking over with another canine encroaching on his territory.

Harry responded with a growl of his own, letting his own instincts come through. He hadn't figured out how to channel ki in this form yet, or he'd use it. The best he could do was let the wolf take over and accustom himself to the feel of fighting as a wolf. His own mind quickly assessed his opponent, a werewolf. He gauged them to be roughly equal in strength, perhaps the werewolf winning slightly, but he gave up perhaps a foot in height for a few kilos in weight. Both had claws, but the werewolf's were more humanoid-like while his exposed his flanks.

The werewolf charged first, going for a head-on approach which Harry barely sidestepped. He mentally berated himself for forgetting the extra speed a werewolf had as he twisted round and jumped to slash the werewolf. The Lycanthrope turned round in time to raise a paw and avoid getting more seriously hurt, but still suffered several gashes on his arm. A Direwolf! Remus finally found the small tidbit in his whirring mind, back when he was trying to complete an essay on magical animal parts. Apparently the Direwolf was almost extinct, but existing parts were known to be highly magical, admittedly not to the extent of the basilisk, for example. This one didn't seem very old, perhaps ten or so years, but then he could be wrong.

The werewolf faked right and slashed Harry on his right, but the Direwolf reacted instantly and violently, planting two rear paws into the lycanthrope's face. They distanced themselves quickly before circling each other warily and attacking. This continued for several hours before the moon set and the sun began to peak through. Remus slowly untransformed, panting like he'd just run a marathon. Harry untransformed too and pulled out his wand, conjuring a bottle of water, not wanting to surprise the werewolf by doing it wandlessly.

Remus's shock didn't register till after he finished the water and realized that the Dire Wolf he'd been fighting was in fact an animagus. When it did, his eyes locked with Harry and tears sprang into his exhausted eyes, "Harry? Is that you?" Harry frowned, "Yes I'm Harry. Who're are you?" Remus, a relieved smile spreading across his face, began his tale, "My name is Remus Lupin, Harry, I was one of your parents' best friends when we were at school."

………

"Arr, the Hogs Head. Not the best place to be, mind you, but doesn't prejudice against other species, and has the more alcoholic drinks that Rosmerta wouldn't serve. That'd be the Three Broomsticks to you lot. But this guy was real nice, said he din wanna have the poor creature die young in a reserve o' nuttin. So he jezz gave 'im to me." Harry's eyes narrowed, "Hagrid, don't you think it's strange that the one thing you want is a Dragon, and someone shows up with just the thing?" Hagrid grunted and dismissed Harry's concerns while poking the fire heating the dragon egg.

Hermione frowned, "What exactly did you two talk about anyway?" Hagrid was much more enthusiastic this time, "Oh, well I said I worked at Hogwarts, and he was most interested. I mean, not many people work here anyway, do they? He wanted ta know what sorta creatures we had, so I told 'im abou' Fluffy, right interested 'e was. I mean, how many cerebi do you see anywhere else?" Harry snorted, "If you know where to look, quite a few places." Hagrid shrugged, "He probably just didn't know."

Padma had picked it up though, "When you told him about Fluffy, what exactly did you tell him?" Hagrid frowned here apparently deep in thought, "well I don't remember quite proper, but he asked if I knew wa' I was gettin inta, so I said after Fluffy, a Dragon'd be easy. Just play 'im a lil music and 'e goes righta sleep." He froze, "No, I didn't say that, I didn't say that!" But Harry and his friends had already started on the run back to the castle. They stopped outside Flitwick's door out of breath and Harry pushed it open, "Professor! Something bad has happened." The miniature professor floated himself over to them, "Indeed? What is it?"

Harry gasped for breath, "Hagrid told someone how to get past Fluffy, and someone already knows how to get past the other traps!" Flitwick bit his lip, "I see. I'm afraid I can't actually do anything about it as things stand. To enhance the security I would have to enter the traps and obstacles, which would defeat its original purpose. I will, however, speak with the heads of houses about this breach." He ushered them out and closed the door, "In the meantime, why don't you four go outside and enjoy the sun? It's a lovely day." Harry sighed heavily, "The problem with that is that we're almost absolutely sure someone's going to steal it some time soon!"

Flitwick frowned, "Again, I shall have to speak with the rest of the house heads. I will, however, send the Headmaster an owl, as he has been called away to an urgent meeting of the Wizengamot. Please leave, I must start contacting the heads." Harry nodded with a frown and left, Su Li grimacing on her way out. They stopped outside and turned to Harry, who frowned in return, "Tonight, with Dumbledore away the Stone is the least protected." He bit his lip, "Tonight we go after it. If we have it nobody else will."

………

"Potter and his friends are honor less busybodies, there is no reason we should believe the Stone has been compromised. I tell you, it's simply Potter trying to gain attention again." Flitwick's left eye twitched badly, "That's my student you're insulting, Severus, perhaps you should reign in your temper. James Potter has long since left the school, as well you know, or at least should know."

Snape snarled in return, "Like father like son, he's always trying to gain attention and admiration! This level of disrespect should not be tolerated! Not to mention the number of school rules he has to have broken in finding out about the Stone." Flitwick's fingers twitched toward his wand but Mcgonagall noticed and stepped in, "That, however, is a discussion for another time. If Mr. Potter has found out about the stone, let alone where it has been hidden, then we have to take steps to improve security. No doubt extra security never hurt anyone."

Quirrel stood, "I-I-I c-c-can't th-think of how t-t-to do that, M-M-Minerva? I-I-It is a-already a r-rather s-s-s-scary p-place, i-isn't it?" He gazed around as though surprised nobody was vehemently supporting him. Ponoma Sprout stood, "I agree it is already scary, but the entry hall to the actual corridor is rather bare. I think I could safely pledge a few Venemous Tentaculae within the next week or so." McGonagall nodded, "And I shall provide a few automated stone enchantments to complement. Alright, meeting dismissed. Flilius, please inform Mr. Potter that his concerns have been dealt with." The Charms professor nodded and left.

…

Safely in his own room, Quirrel became his true self, untying his turban and bowing before the mirror which portrayed a monstrosity, "Master, the securities have been increased as you know. Should I make the call?" The grotesque face smiled humorlessly, "yes, call them. Call them and tell them to come prepared." Quirrel bowed low and disappeared to the owlrey, letter in hand.

………

"Keep your senses open, there is nothing more dangerous than an undetected enemy. Remain calm and alert, fear impedes and anger blinds. Now, have you everything you need?" Harry swallowed the last of his soup and nodded, "Yes sir. I have my katana, the Potter blade, cloak, staff and wand. I don't think I'll need it, but better safe than sorry." Tokiya nodded, "It's not time yet, go clear your mind." He called out just before Harry disappeared, "I can come if you want?" Harry shook his head, "This is my fight."

…

They came upon few distractions, Mrs. Norris, Peeves, and various other non-descript ghosts were the worst of them. All were dealt with quickly and simply, and they quickly found themselves outside the third floor corridor. Opening it, they were instantly assaulted by cannonballs and tongues of fire. Flicking their respective weapons, they quickly conjured shields and barriers, halting the flow. Drawing his ki around him in an aura, Harry unsheathed his katana and swept into the room, drawing the various animated statues' attention while the other three fired curses and hexes, rapidly reducing the piles of stone to rubble.

Harry frowned, "Well, it looks like they did some remodeling. Not that it's any good if we got through them this quickly." Hermione was affronted, "There were four of us, it's natural we'd have an advantage." Harry nodded, "If we had equal power levels to him, yes. But that's not the case, collectively we probably just exceed Voldemort's power. Plus he has greater knowledge than all of us together; he'd probably have put up a titan shield and blasted the entire hall way with overpowered exploding curses." Hermione grumbled about logical gits but conceded the point.

They finally got to Fluffy, who growled at them till he sniffed out Harry, who grinned and patted him, "That's a good boy, you still like dragon meat?" The three girls goggled as Harry pulled out three large slabs of dragon meat and hand fed Fluffy. The meat gobbled up, the cerebus yawned (all three heads at once) and keeled over, quite obviously asleep. Hermione and Padma blinked, "He eats dragon meat?" Harry chuckled, "Well, most cerebi don't. In fact, they generally detest dragon meat. But being that they have lived around the world so long they've grown accustomed to eating dragon meat. At least now and then. In Fluffy's case, there was a potion accident involving dragon blood and minced dragon meat. Since then his favorite has been dragon meat, specifically the Peruvian Vipertooth." Padma looked faint so Harry opened the trapdoor and pulled out his wand, "Lumos."

They gazed down the hole a few minutes longer. Hermione sighed, "What more are you looking for? It's a plant, we can see that, but we won't be able to discern what sort of plant it is till we get down there." Su Li shook her head, "I don't know about Paddy, but Harry and I can sense ki patterns, which plants do give off, despite what some say. This, I don't think, isn't something we have studied in class. It resembles Devil's Snare and Marshman's Bog, but that's still not it." Harry frowned, "Agreed, I'd also like to add Gorgon's Avatar to that list, but that's not quite right either. It's possible it's a hybrid?" Padma interrupted, "It's not a hybrid, I think it's Gorgon's Wraith, it's a relative to the avatar, but I can't remember what it does."

That sent Hermione into "bookworm mode" as Harry'd dubbed it, and got a thinking look on her face, "Well I do know it's a hotbed for snakes usually small ones, and that it tends to grow on rocks, breaking them down for food, so as long as we stay away from the roots, which is where the snakes live, we should be fine. I think it has various tentacles and spikes but I can't remember much about them." Harry nodded, "Su, on me. Paddy, 'Mione, fire charms and curses, follow us in." He gave them no room for argument, jumping down while drawing his flames around him like a cloak and bringing his staff across his shoulder and down, the head burning a fiery blue aura. Su Li came down right behind him, ki claws swinging dangerously, her aura exploding into existence.

Hermione and Padma came much more slowly and cautiously, but inferno curses and nova flames flowed from their wands like extended hands attempting to destroy the dangerous plant, or at least incapacitate it.

Unfortunately, the plant was a hybrid of some sort, because its vines, though limited, were able to swat many of their spells from the air, as well as deflect some of the attacks from Harry. Then Harry got fed up and fed his ki into his flame, boosting the burning embers to far greater levels. Su Li alone was not stopped, the Neko-ken had been an avatar's skill, wielding divine power against any and all. A bit of plant wouldn't stop it. As such, she hacked away at the monstrous plant, opposite Harry at the other end of the chamber, burning vines and leaves to nothing. Padma and Hermione had landed by now and were mostly caught up in dodging attacks of the Vine Whip sort, only getting the odd curse off.

Finally Padma got fed up and pointed her wand between her feet and roared, "Larista!" It was a very obscure spell they'd found once while searching for homework material, and actually came from a time when emotional magic was being experimented with. It came from a set of duo spells, Larista and Lorada, both of which were blasting curses. However, both had secondary attributes drawn from the emotion experienced at casting. If one were in a cold mood, the spell would not only blast, but freeze as well. If one were angry when casting, the spell would burn. The difference between the two was that Larista was primarily attributal, while Lorada was power-based. This meant that in her frustrated and generally angry state, Padma not only blasted a hulking great hole in the plant and the anaconda beneath it, but burned both really badly. Panting heavily, she hadn't the energy to dodge the vine that came her way, whipping her into the wall, knocking her out. Harry placed himself in front of her and added his magic to his flame-ki mix, focusing all three into his staff.

His eyes glowed in time with the now immense aura of his staff, and when he brought it down there was a bright flash of light, flames exploding all over the chamber. When their vision cleared, the plant was little more than a small bulb left in the middle of three large black snakes. Fortunately, one had been killed, Padma's curse blowing a hole through its head, and another had been injured, its body protecting the now-dead snake. The last one hissed dangerously and Harry snarled in return, "**Back off if you wish to live.**" The anacondas were momentarily stunned, but as per snake law couldn't disobey a human speaker, and even then they were rather in favor of living. Harry picked up Padma and the three hurried into the next room.

They went through the next two rooms without problem. Apparently Voldemort had found ways past the first three obstacles without having to use magic, but after that had encountered problems. The room after the "mad plant" in Padma's words was filled with flying keys, one of which was apparently going to unlock the door at the end. Or it would have, if the door hadn't been blown clean away leaving just a door frame. The next room was apparently a chessboard, but then Voldemort had evidently not dallied with mental sports and blown the whole place to pieces. Harry sighed, "Well, better than having to play across I guess."

The next room was likewise taken care of, the only thing recognizable apart from blood and guts was a troll head. Padma threw up onto what must have been its stomach, or one of them anyway, while Harry examined the head and muttered about how trolls weren't supposed to be that large. Indeed, their last challenge was to unravel the mystery of…the potion. Harry took one look at it and growled, "Miserable Snape has to have the toughest task. Though the chessboard would probably have come pretty close."

All of them being muggle raised, or as muggle raised as possible with Harry and Su Li's backgrounds, the riddle was complex but not impossible for them with "more than an ounce of logic" in Hermione's words. Unfortunately there was only enough for one to use, and three of them needed it. Eye twitching at the simplistic nature of this particular obstacle, Harry waved his wand, duplicating it twice, muttering about incompetent puzzle setters. Having ice down their gullets, they proceeded through the flame door, only to be confronted by a different person from their expectations.

"Potter, I wondered if you'd be here tonight."

………  .  ………

Traditional ending eh? Voldemort'll be more prominent, Qurrel will be more inhumane, and Draco will be gay. Nah, just one more chapter and then onto the next installment: Flame of the West: The Chamber of Secrets, watch for it!


	6. Masters

Flame of the West: The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 6: Masters

14th February 2006

"You!" Hermione gasped, "But you're a professor! How…"

Quirrel only laughed at her, "Really, Ms Granger, you need to be more observant. Even Ms Patil over there noticed that there was something wrong with the way I was so scared of so many things." Hermione looked affronted at being called inobservant.

Harry sighed, "That's enough, we know what exactly you're here to steal, so perhaps you'll back off?" Quirrel smiled, an unearthly sight, "Never. I have this chance to do something great for my master, and I'm not letting some school _children_ stop me."

Su Li drew out with a ki claw, "Then we'll have to destroy you!" lashing out with her hand, a cresent blade of pearl white streaked towards Quirrel, who dodged and suddenly screamed, "Fool, you should have killed them!" the voice was high and cold, definitely not Quirrel's, and Harry snarled, "Voldemort." Su lashed out again, and Voldemort let Quirrel's body take the slash full force before a dark aura over took him and he drew his last breath. The fog-like darkness cleared with a swish from Padma's wand, "Dispello." And there stood Voldemort, as he'd probably have been soon after finishing at Hogwarts, and he hissed, "So, you have knowledge too. Excellent, then you shall be my first victims before I secure the Philosopher's Stone and return myself to my true power."

Padma frowned, "How did you survive?" Voldemort smiled cruelly, "Ah, something you and the rest of the world wish to know I'm sure. But I haven't gone further down the path to immortality than any other only to divulge my secrets now." He flicked his wand and a burst of dark red light sprang forth towards them, deflected by a timely, "Lentitudo!" from Su Li. Voldemort snapped his fingers and snake-like cords erupted from the ground around them, binding them tightly. Voldemort stalked up to Su Li and glared at her, "So, they survived my purge then? I'm impressed, and those who impress me don't live long. Avada Kedavra!" Harry had started moving the moment the ropes materialized, summoning his katana to his hand and slashing through the bindings, flinging a bolt of fire into the path of the curse, dispelling it just in time.

Voldemort turned to him, "So Potter, going to play the hero again?" Harry didn't answer, instead twirling the katana round, slicing through the bindings on Hermione and Padma before deflecting another two quick curses. Voldemort grinned, "Hiding behind girls' skirts? If nothing else, at least I can't fault your taste. They are exquisite, after all." Harry snarled and charged, drawing the Potter blade as he went, and slashed at Voldemort quickly in passing, nicking Su Li's bindings at the same time. She jumped away, distracting Voldemort as Padma and Hermione opened fire, "Immobilus! Stupefy! Premaculeus! Alarae Exumae! Expelliarmus! Surculus Calamus!" they did little more than annoy Voldemort, who cast a large shield charm and deflected them, but the arrows forced him to dodge, placing him just right for Su Li to open up his defenses like a can opener and begin her own barrage, "Haku Dato Shin Sho!" Voldemort cried out at the pain of having jets of energy forced through his body, but overcame her quickly, "Everte Statum!" and she crumbled against a wall, unconscious.

Harry frowned and got into an even stance, ready for Voldemort's next attack. He wasn't prepared for a passive strike, with Voldemort swishing his hands and drawing a ring of fire around the combatants. Scowling, Harry sheathed his blades and pulled out his staff, "Fulmen!" a jet of lightning flew from the tip, striking the dark lord in the shoulder as he dodged, and twisted back into Harry's two handed grasp, erecting a shield to halt the oncoming Sectumsempra curse, which Harry frowned at. He himself hadn't seen any mention of it before, and filed it away for further research, responding with, "Lorada!" and a streak of flame erupted from his wand, catching Voldemort's retreating form. Hermione and Padma were still firing, but they just couldn't do significant damage to him, but Harry knew without them he'd soon be over powered.

Thankfully, Su Li groaned and rose to her feet, anger evident in her eyes. Growling she slashed with her wand, muttering various choice Chinese curses, bombarding Voldemort with a rainbow of marron, purple, and gold. Frowning the dark lord sent a black energy ball at them, absorbing the spells and destroying part of the wall behind her when Su jumped to avoid them. She jumped back in, deploying the full extent of her Neko-ken, and Voldemort was forced onto the defensive, finally spotting an opening and taking full advantage of it with a "Calva Lecero!", crumbling part of her rib cage before spinning and sending a volley of brown curses at Harry. Following Harry's retreat, Voldemort swished his wand sideways and up, firing a volley of glass shards before following with a loud cry of, "CRUCIO!"

Snarling Harry twirled away from the pain curse, trying all the while to block out Su Li's whimpers, replying with a "Tarantallegra!" before having to jump away and erect his most powerful shield to stop a veritable wall of oncoming curses, "Theur Vaarn!"

Under cover of his shield, Harry waved his hand, conjuring several dozen small blades, sending them at Voldemort with another wave of his hand. The dark lord erected another shield to stop them, but it gave Harry the chance he needed. Drawing his Katana, he fed his ki and magic, supported by his fire, and leapt into the air, "Flames of Destiny!" bringing it down on Voldemort's head. For a moment nothing happened, then Voldemort erupted in flames, screaming as for the second time ever, his spirit was ripped from a body, leaving him to wander the world alone again.

Harry staggered over to the mirror and gazed at it, chuckling to himself, "Brilliant. He couldn't find it because he wanted to use it." Sighing to himself, he collapsed backwards, "At least it's safe."

………

Darkness, it was endless! Where was he anyway? A chuckle? Someone's laughing at me? But I can't sense them, guess that'd have to be the case, if I could I'd kill him. Wait, it sounds like a feminine, so I'll kill _her_.

The laugh came again, "Are you so sure you'd kill me, Harry? I mean, I thought I meant a good bit to you." Harry placed the voice almost instantly, "Aurora! Where are we?" Aurora chuckled, "Well, if you'd only turn the lights on, you'd find out pretty quickly wouldn't you?" Harry sighed, damned birds and mysterious answers. Still, with nothing to be lost by doing so, Harry closed his eyes and focused on lights coming on, hoping this was what Aurora meant.

Then his head began to hurt and he opened his eyes, only to rediscover his firewall, occlumency shields, and his mind back as last he checked. Grinning he found Aurora and Reiketsu, "Well, I guess I fell unconscious eh? Better out cold than dead though, what's been happening?" the bright blue phoenix chuckled, "Well, for a while you were asleep, then one thing led to another, and now you're in the hospital wing, with Hermione, Padma, and Su Li. Tokiya got Su Li done up pretty fast but Poppy insisted on having all of them down. Padma was pretty exhausted and is still out, I guess there wasn't a warning about those spells eh? I mean, you're probably only able to use all those high powered spells and still fight because of Aurora and I."

Harry sighed, "Well, guess I won't be doing that again soon then? I mean, I think my core will have grown a good bit by September?" Aurora nodded, "Yep, you're in your exponential growth stage, but still, I doubt you'll go too high, or at least you won't reach even close to Dumbledore's power till you're past half a century." Harry shrugged, "I highly doubt Dumbledore could wield a sword like me." Fawks made his entrance then, "Again, I seem to have caught the tail end of that conversation. For your information, Albus _is_ in fact schooled in the art of the sword. I'd have liked to call him a master of it, but he's just not quite the same anymore with it. Old age, I'm sure you understand?"

Harry nodded, "Well then, I'll just go back to trying to wake up then, shall I?" He floated over to his nerve centers and focused on pushing power into them, carefully monitoring in case something happened. In a flash, he was up in bed, laughing at a rather pained Albus Dumbledore who was clutching his head and groaning. He stretched his stiffened muscles and rubbed his eyes, shaking the fuzz from his mind and grinned at the headmaster, "Professor Dumbledore, it's rather strange to peer so closely at one so very asleep, is it not?" Dumbledore chuckled, "Indeed, Harry, but your scar intrigued me. See, when I first saw it, there was nothing truly special about it. But now a decade later, it has gained a blue-green tinge to it with a smattering of gold. Anything I should know about?"

Harry chuckled, "Probably part of my occlumency shields really, I haven't anything else that could effect such a change." Dumbledore nodded and seemed to accept his answer, though a quizzical gleam remained in his eye, "Well then, Ms. Granger and Ms. Li have awoken and I've spoken variously to them, but it seems you're the only one to survive the ordeal in one piece. Perhaps you could recall for me what happened?" Harry frowned and reached into his subspace pocket, reassuring himself that the stone was still there and safe before answering, "Well, as I'm sure you know already, something happened to attract our attention and we eventually got on the trail of the Philosopher's Stone which Voldemort was after as well.

"I'm equally sure you already know, but the professors put in extra protections on my advice through Professor Flitwick." Albus nodded at that and Harry continued, "Apparently Quirrel had secured a way through already because the protections were intact. Various other protections were basically blown apart, and others were circumvented, and we made our way through those. Quirrel's body was taken by Voldemort and mutilated to accommodate his power levels, and we dueled. Hermione and Padma gave me great cover fire, and Su got up in time to give me a hand, and I basically killed him." Dumbledore nodded amiably, "That much is not new to me in its entirety, but you still haven't explained how you defeated Voldemort?" Harry sighed and closed his eyes, "I cut him in half right down the middle. Is it that hard to understand?"

Dumbledore shook his head, "That much I also knew. No, what I meant was how did you get the opportunity to strike? I found some powerful magic which was unidentifiable to me there. No it wasn't Voldemort, I'm fairly familiar with his magic and this was no wizarding magic." Harry sighed, "Surely its conceivable that our magics mixed in the crossfire and came up with something incalculable?" Seeing Dumbledore's disbelieving look, Harry relented, "It's an Elven shield, works best against curses and only something like a spirit breaking curse of Voldemort's level could collapse it. It's major weakness, funnily enough, are basic charms and transfiguration. So if Voldemort had tried to transfigure it into a needle or anything of similar complexity it would have disappeared. Same if he'd tried to levitate it with a simple Wingardium Leviosa." Albus looked astounded and another voice cut into the opening, "Simple solutions to complicated problems. Taking down even a temporary ward of its variation would take all his servants with powerful curses and hexes."

Harry grinned, "I knew you'd be here." Tokiya snorted, "so maybe I should have come anyway? That Troll sure looked like it could use a cold if it weren't dead." Harry sighed, "and why didn't you come beyond that? I know you'd have tried to kill Voldemort on sight." His teacher shrugged, "Fuko called, you know what she's like." Harry shuddered, his various encounters with her had matured him at an early age, "I'm sure glad _I'm_ not part of that pact." Dumbledore, realizing he was not only out of his depth, but didn't want to know, excused himself, "I shall see you at the feast then, Harry, take care. Tokiya."

………

And before they knew it, they were on their way through the gates of Hogwarts and boarding the trains, and finding their own compartment after bidding their goodbyes to Hagrid, "Well, guess I'll see you in September then, Hagrid?" the large man smiled, "yep, and get ready fer another thumpin gud year. Yer take care now right?" Harry grinned back, "You bet. See you!"

"So Harry, where are you going?" Harry grinned at Hermione, "I dunno, Tokiya'll tell me soon I guess. For now, maybe Aurora'll flame us to Japan, or Germany, or wherever takes her fancy, they it's another few months on the road for me, and we'll play it by ear." He grinned at their dumbfounded looks, it was going to be a great summer.


End file.
